Sunday Morning Quarterback: Eagles can still be Super without Carson Wentz

Well, they've been temporarily grounded, but there is no reason for fans to line up on the Walt Whitman Bridge to jump into the Delaware River.

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The Eagles lost Carson Wentz, who was the favorite to be the MVP, but that doesn't mean the season is lost. Philly fans have been conditioned to expect the worst – the Eagles are one of just 13 teams never to win the Super Bowl – but there is a precedent for a team to lose their starting quarterback late in the season and go on to win the Super Bowl.

In a season that seemed too good to be true, losing Wentz to a torn ACL so late in the season, in the 13th game, was not only sad, it was cruel. The Eagles had established themselves as the best team in the NFL.

Nick Foles and the Eagles can still accomplish Super things this season. (Kelvin Kuo/AP)

But if they are looking for inspiration that they can win it all with Nick Foles, they can think about the Giants, who they play Sunday at MetLife. No, they don't want to think about this year's Giants. They don't inspire anybody, most of all themselves. But back in 1990, Phil Simms was having one of his best seasons when he broke his foot against the Bills in the 14th game.

Jeff Hostetler finished the game against Buffalo, a loss that dropped the Giants' record to 11-3. It was Hostetler's seventh year in the NFL. He had only started two games — he didn't even attempt a pass until his fifth year — and had thrown just 68 passes in his first six seasons and 25 in 1990 before Simms went down.

All Hoss did was beat the Cardinals and Patriots in the last two regular season games and then the Bears and 49ers in the NFL playoffs and the Bills in the Super Bowl. Could they have done it with Simms?

Jeff Hostetler takes over after Phil Simms gets hurt late in season and helps Giants to Super Bowl XXV title. (Olga Shalygin/AP)

They were superior to the Bears and Simms has told me he would have ripped up the Bills defense in the Super Bowl just like he did to Denver four years earlier. But he said Hostetler's superior mobility was the difference in the game against the 49ers' fierce pass rush. Remember, Simms lost to the 49ers at Candlestick earlier that season by a score of 7-3.

He didn't say he wouldn't have beaten the Niners in the NFC Championship but acknowledged Hoss' mobility was so important. The Giants still didn't score a touchdown against the 49ers with Hostetler, but he put them in position for five field goals, including the game winner by Matt Bahr on the final play.

Not only did the Giants players believe in Hostetler and rally around him, but Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick and that great coaching staff picked their game up a level. Belichick played a 4-3 defense against Chicago, 3-4 against San Francisco and only two down linemen against the Bills. His Super Bowl game plan is in the Hall of Fame.

Can Doug Pederson get Foles to play like he did for Chip Kelly in 2013 when he threw 27 TDs and just 2 INTs and was 8-2? He was 6-2 in 2014 before suffering a season-ending broken collarbone. The Eagles traded him after that season to the Rams for Sam Bradford. He was 4-7 for the Rams in 2015 and 1-0 for the Chiefs last year.

Now he's back in Philly and Pederson will have to adjust his offense and Jim Schwartz will have to get his defense to take a step up. Wentz has great wheels and Foles can't run. So that aspect of the Eagles offense is gone, although with Wentz getting hurt last week diving into the end zone, maybe that's a good thing.

Pederson also has to be a psychologist, convincing his players that the season isn't over without Wentz and they need to have confidence in Foles.

"Part of my messaging to the team is that one man, one man can definitely make a difference on your football team, but the fact is we're still a team and as a group of men, we're playing well as a team and that's what we can't lose sight of," he said.

Foles had thrown just four passes this season until Wentz was injured late in the third quarter last week in Los Angeles. He has attempted 1,299 passes in his career. He is one of the better backups in the league. He led the Eagles to two field goals in the fourth quarter last week in their 43-35 victory over the Rams.

Philly is 11-2 and owns a one-game lead on the Vikings for the NFC's No. 1 seed. They also have a one-game lead on Minnesota in conference record, which is the first-tie-breaker. If it goes to the second tie-breaker, which is common opponents, the Eagles already have clinched that over the Vikings. All Philly has to do to clinch the No. 1 seed is win two of their last three against the Giants and then home against the Raiders and Cowboys.

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Philly is 6-0 at The Linc and now without Wentz it is even more important to get home field throughout the playoffs for them to make it to the Super Bowl.

GO IN THE TANK

Even if the Giants win their last three games, is it going to make Big Blue Nation feel any better about this dreadful season? Nope. The players might take it a little better, but half of them who are currently on the active roster aren't going to be here next year anyway. The Giants are so much better off finishing 2-14 and owning the second pick in the draft than winning two or three games and dropping down a few spots. Think big picture: Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen… John Mara has made some poor decisions over the last few years, but he is suffering right along with Giants fans. When a flag was picked up last week against the Cowboys, he stormed out of his box and his face was so red it looked like Tom Coughlin's cheeks in Green Bay at the frigid NFC title game nearly 10 years ago. This just might be the worst Giants team of all time. It's been torture for Mara. "I'm trying to think of one that was worse," he said. "Maybe '78, maybe '66. Never one where the expectations were so high and the performance was so poor."… Mara thinks very highly of Dave Gettleman, who worked for the Giants from 1998-2012 in personnel and then spent four years as Panthers GM. He appears to be the favorite to be Giants GM but the plans is to wait for other candidates to become available to interview after the season. But that could change if Gettleman has a strong interview. He will likely be interviewed this week along with internal candidates Kevin Abrams and Marc Ross. Mara was reluctant to speak about Gettleman at last week's league meetings. "I don't want to get into that. People are going to run with it and say he's the favorite," he said… The Cowboys lost their first three games without Zeke Elliott and have won their last two. The last game of his six-game suspension is Sunday against the Raiders. He will return for the final two against the Seahawks and Eagles. If Dallas can win its last three to get to 10-6 and sneak in as a wild card, it will be a dangerous team in January. But they have to jump over the Panthers and Seahawks, who are 9-4, and the Falcons, who are 8-5. They would also lose the tie-breaker with the Packers, who are also 7-6, because they lost to them earlier this season… Green Bay stayed on the fringe of the playoff race with backup Brett Hundley winning three of the seven games Aaron Rodgers missed with his broken collarbone. Now Rodgers is back Sunday for a huge game against the Panthers… Mike Holmgren was the Jets' first choice to be head coach when they hired Todd Bowles. He was interested but his wife didn't want to move from Seattle. Doug Marrone was the second choice after he opted out of his Buffalo deal. He was led to believe he had the job and would team with GM Mike Macccagnan as the GM until the Jets backed out and hired Bowles. It's not easy to say what would have happened with the Jets if Woody Johnson followed his instincts, but Marrone has the Jags on the verge of winning the AFC South in his first full season.

JERRY V. GOODELL ISN’T OVER

Don't be fooled by Jerry Jones appearing to take defeat on Roger Goodell's contract so easily. He wants to take a dive into the NFL constitution and cut into some of the commissioner's powers, especially on discipline… The Patriots' season could be on the line in Pittsburgh with the No. 1 seed at stake. The Steelers (11-2) can clinch the top spot if they beat the Patriots and the Jags (9-4) lose or tie one of their last three games. If New England and Jacksonville finish in a 12-4 tie for the No. 2 seed, it goes to Jacksonville based on a better conference record, pushing the Pats into the wild-card round. The Patriots have had the bye all seven times they've made it to the Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era, so they don't have a history of success taking the long road. Besides, Brady looked like a 40-year-old QB in last week's loss to the Dolphins and could use the bye week to energize his arm.

2017 ALL-SEASON-ENDING INJURY TEAM

This season has lacked a super power team. Well, I found one by putting together the best players who have suffered season-ending injuries. If healthy, this team would be Super Bowl LII champs. The requirement to make the team is the injury had to be sustained after training camp opened, which cost Andrew Luck an opportunity to win the job from Wentz.

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Because every team needs a coach the assignment goes to Ben McAdoo, the only coach fired during the season thus far.